A wedding celebration turned into a nightmarish tragedy as a fire broke out at an event hall in the northern Iraqi town of Hamdaniyah. The blaze, which occurred during the wedding, resulted in the loss of at least 100 lives, with more than 150 individuals sustaining injuries, according to preliminary reports released early Wednesday.
The incident prompted a swift and chaotic response, with ambulances racing to the main hospital in Hamdaniyah, a predominantly Christian town east of Mosul, known as Qaraqosh. At the hospital, witnesses observed a flurry of activity, as sirens blared, and crowds gathered to donate blood to help the injured. Outside, a refrigerated truck containing several black body bags became a somber focal point.
Health authorities in Nineveh province, where Hamdaniyah is situated, provided an initial assessment, confirming the grim toll. The official Iraqi press agency INA reported that “100 dead and more than 150 injured” were counted due to the tragic fire in the marriage hall. The Iraqi health ministry spokesperson corroborated these figures when speaking to AFP.
Initial investigations by civil defense authorities indicated that the event hall contained highly flammable prefabricated panels that violated safety standards. The use of such “highly flammable, low-cost construction materials” led to parts of the ceiling collapsing during the fire. Preliminary information suggests that fireworks used during the wedding may have ignited the blaze.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani issued a brief statement, urging the Ministers of Health and the Interior to “mobilize all rescue efforts” to aid the fire’s victims. The Ministry of Health promptly dispatched “medical aid trucks” from Baghdad and other provinces to the area, with medical teams in Nineveh activated to care for the injured.
Hamdaniyah, like many other Christian towns in the Nineveh Plains, had suffered extensive damage when jihadists from the Islamic State group ransacked it in 2014. After the group’s expulsion in 2017, the town embarked on a slow process of rebuilding and gained international attention when Pope Francis visited in March 2021.
This tragic incident underscores the ongoing challenges with safety standards in Iraq, particularly in the construction and transport sectors. The nation’s infrastructure, battered by decades of conflict, often experiences fatal fires and accidents.
In July 2021, a fire in a Covid unit of a southern hospital claimed over 60 lives, and in April of the same year, an explosion of oxygen tanks in a Baghdad hospital dedicated to Covid patients resulted in more than 80 casualties.
